Amnesty says Sri Lanka fails to probe abuses

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka 
The Sri Lankan government has never seriously investigated human rights abuses allegedly committed during 25 years of civil war and needs to rapidly overhaul its justice system to bring peace to the country, Amnesty International said Thursday.

The London-based rights group said the problem was even more urgent in the wake of the government's defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last month in a bloody offensive that left more than 7,000 civilians dead, according to the United Nations.

Human rights groups and diplomats accused the government of shelling heavily populated civilian areas and said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel group held thousands of civilians as human shields, shooting those who tried to flee. Both sides denied the accusations.

"If communities that have been torn apart by decades of violence and impunity are to be reconciled, the Sri Lankan government should initiate internal reforms and seek international assistance to prevent ongoing violations and ensure real accountability for past abuses," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director.

In a report released Thursday, Amnesty called for the establishment of an international commission to investigate those allegations, saying that past government probes into abuses have gone nowhere.

"The Sri Lankan authorities have had little success in providing accountability for abuses against civilians committed by the LTTE; they are even less likely to effectively investigate and prosecute their own forces for violations of human rights and humanitarian law," Zarifi said.

The government has repeatedly brushed off such calls saying it would interfere with the country's sovereignty.

Government officials did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Last March, an international panel of experts established to advise the latest commission of inquiry resigned, saying the government lacked the political will to properly investigate alleged human rights abuses.

The commission was not properly funded or staffed, its hearings were poorly organized, officials refused to cooperate and there was no effective witness protection program, the group said.

The cases being investigated by the commission included the 2006 execution-style slaying of 17 aid workers for the French organization Action Against Hunger and the 2005 assassination of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, allegedly by the rebels.

The Amnesty report accuses the government of interfering with past investigations, by using bribes, threats and even murder to eliminate witnesses.

The vast majority of human rights violations are never investigated and those that are rarely end in conviction because hearings drag on, witnesses refuse to testify and in some cases even the prosecution does not show up, the report said.

Meanwhile, the country's human rights commission has been stripped of its authority, local rights activists have been threatened, the U.N. has been obstructed and the press has been stifled, the group said.